A Comparative Study of Early Seed Development in Genotypes of Barley and Rye

Early seed development was studied in 17 genotypes of barley,Hordeum vulgare L., and 11 genotypes of rye, Secale cerealeL. The numbers of cells and nuclei in the embryos and endospermsof developing seeds were scored daily for 5 days after selfpollination. For embryos, the mean cell doubling times variedfrom 9.2–12.9 h for barley and 15.7–22.7 h for rye.Endosperm mitotic cycle times of both species were shortestover the first 24 h after pollination but then became longer.A non-linear correlation was found between the number of embryocells and the number of endosperm nuclei in barely and rye andis similar to that for other members of the Triticeae. Hordeum vulgare L., Secale cereale L., barley, rye, embryo, endosperm, mean cell doubling time